TORONTO — Leaders of the Dr. Abraham Shore She’arim Hebrew Day School expect it to remain at the Bathurst Jewish Community Centre for the 2008-2009 school year, now that plans to demolish and rebuild the BJCC have been delayed until 2009.
Two months ago, parents and staff feared that the school, housed in rented premises on the BJCC’s second floor, would be shut down because of funding issues and lack of a home for this coming September.
Sidney Braun, co-president of She’arim, which serves 75 students from Grade 1 through Grade 8 with learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and mild forms of autism, told The CJN last week that “there will definitely be a school next year.”
However, when contacted Monday morning, Seymour Epstein, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s senior vice-president for the Centre for Enhancement of Jewish Education (known as the Mercaz), said the school’s future has yet to be decided.
He expects a decision will be forthcoming next month.
In January, She’arim was notified that the federation’s plans to demolish and replace the BJCC have been postponed for a year, a “very significant factor,” Epstein said.
Although the school must work through other issues, “we don’t have the added burden of having to relocate,” Braun said.
“We’ve been offered the possibility of an extension on our lease, which we have said yes to,” he added.
As of last Friday, a new lease had not been signed, but Braun said he had sent Sherry Kulman, the BJCC’s executive director, a confirmation in writing. The school’s current lease will expire at the end of June.
Braun noted that the school is the only one of its kind in the community and has the highest tuition, at about $18,000, of any Jewish day school.
Earlier this year, She’arim experienced a deficit that its executive director, Faigie Davids, attributed to a decreased number of students because of a large graduating class last year, which resulted in a loss of tuition.
The school approached the Mercaz to ask for cash advances on the annual amount it receives (under $200,000, based on the number of subsidized students) so that it could pay its staff. School fundraising events last year netted about $500,000 toward She’arim’s annual $1.5 million budget.
So far, the school hasn’t asked the Mercaz for money beyond the amount that has been allotted to it for the current school year.
“We’re putting together a whole new budget so that we don’t have a repeat situation in the future,” Braun said.
He added that there would be no economies of scale if the student population were to increase. Because of the high ratio of teachers to students that’s necessary to address the latter’s special needs, “the more students you have, the more teachers you need. That’s the nature of a special education school.”
In addition to its usual fundraising this year, additional fundraising is planned in order to “eliminate the accumulated deficit the school has had, and to ensure that going forward we don’t have an accumulated deficit,” Braun said.
He said that She’arim is working with a joint management committee consisting of both school and federation representatives, and will be implementing changes in areas such as the curriculum and teaching materials, which were recommended by independent consultants.
“We want to meet the needs of the community, the children and the parent body,” Braun said.
Epstein said it’s up to the joint management committee to decide the future of the school. Two months ago, Epstein told The CJN, without being specific, that She’arim was not in compliance with Mercaz funding requirements.
He said this week that he “misspoke” at the time, and clarified that the school “has problems with compliance, but it has not been taken off the list [of funded schools]. They are still in compliance.”
Said Braun: “Federation is working with us to make sure we finish this year without any hiccups to ensure that we have a stable financial structure. We are well down the path.”
